Hafnium oxide can have appropriate physical properties to be useful as a dielectric material in integrated circuitry. Specifically, if hafnium oxide has a tetragonal (also referred to as tetraclinic) crystallographic orientation, or an orthorhombic crystallographic orientation, it can have appropriate permittivity and low leakage to be suitable for utilization as a dielectric material in numerous circuit devices, such as, for example, capacitor constructions. However, if the hafnium oxide is in a monoclinic crystallographic orientation, the hafnium oxide can have a leakage current which is too high to be suitable for utilization in integrated circuit devices. The leakage of monoclinic hafnium oxide is typically about 10−7 amps/cm2, while the leakage of tetragonal and orthorhombic hafnium oxide is typically about 10−9 amps/cm2.
It would be desirable to develop methods by which hafnium oxide can be cost-effectively and reliably formed in a non-monoclinic crystallographic orientation (such as, for example, a tetragonal or orthorhombic crystallographic orientation). It would be further desirable if such methodology could be extended to other hafnium-containing materials besides hafnium oxide. Additionally, it would be desirable for the methodology to be extendable to integrated circuit device fabrication processes.